Senator Patrick Brazeau is behind bars and Prime Minister Stephen Harper has booted from the Conservative party caucus Thursday, but the 38 year old plans to keep his $132,000 a year position.

The Opposition NDP is calling for Brazeau’s immediate removal from the Senate in the wake of the domestic violence accusations. “We don’t believe that [Brazeau’s] doing anything to represent the Canadian people,” MP Charlie Angus said in Question Period.

But the truth is, removing a senator is easier said than done.

Charges against the senator would trigger a process within days that could see him suspended from Canada’s upper chamber. If that happens, he would still collect his $132,000 annual salary.

Members can be ejected from the Senate if convicted of an indictable offence and given no less than two years in jail. Of course, that’s never happened.

Barring that, a senator can be removed if he swears alliance to another country, goes bankrupt or commits treason.

Other methods could require reforms to the Red Chamber and how its governed.

“It’s one thing, his removal from the Tory caucus, but he’s still in the Senate so up until his retirement age, if he stays in the Senate, he will cost Canadians $7-million,” NDP leader Thomas Mulcair said after a speech to the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations.

Brazeau is scheduled for an early court appearance Friday.

No senator has ever been expelled from the upper chamber, but several have resigned under a cloud:

Raymond Lavigne, a Liberal from Quebec, resigned in March 2011 after being found guilty of fraud and breach of trust relating to spending of his Senate office budget. The resignation allowed him to keep his Senate pension. Lavigne was appointed by Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien in 2002.

Eric Berntson, Progressive Conservative for the western provinces, was appointed in September 1990 by Tory prime minister Brian Mulroney. He resigned in February 2001 after being found guilty of fraud in 1999 related to his time as a provincial MLA in Saskatchewan. He spent four months in jail.

Michel Cogger was a Progressive Conservative senator for Quebec appointed by Mulroney in 1986. He resigned in September 2000 after being convicted of influence-peddling. He was convicted in 1998 for accepting over $200,000 to help a businessman obtain government contracts. In 2001, he was granted an unconditional discharge.

Andrew Thompson resigned in March 1998 after media reports that he spent most of his time in Mexico, attending only 12 of 459 Senate sittings between 1990 and 1997. He was appointed to the Senate by Liberal prime minister Lester Pearson in 1967.

Hazen Argue, a Liberal from Saskatchewan, was the first senator ever charged under the Criminal Code with fraud, theft and breach of trust, for misuse of Senate resources in 1989. The charges were dropped as Argue was ill with cancer. He died in 1991. Argue was appointed to the Senate by Pearson in 1966.

Kirsten Smith, Postmedia News

Brazeau, long a prominent and polarizing figure both within Canada’s aboriginal community and beyond, was swiftly removed from the Conservative caucus after police arrived at his home in Gatineau, Que., around 9 a.m.

About three hours later — with Brazeau believed to be in custody, a red police tape cordon around his house and a cruiser parked in the driveway — a letter was circulated among caucus that he was no longer a member.

“It’s known that in light of the serious events that have been reported today, I have removed Sen. Brazeau from the Conservative caucus,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the Commons.

“Our understanding is that these are matters of a personal nature rather than Senate business, but they are very serious and we expect they will be dealt with through the courts.”

House Leader Peter Van Loan later confirmed in the House that Brazeau’s departure was directly linked to reports of a domestic incident.

Brazeau, however, has been a thorn in the Conservative caucus’s side for months, most recently over allegations that he was using other people’s addresses in order to qualify for a Senate housing allowance and an aboriginal tax exemption.

Police described Brazeau’s house as a crime scene, although they refused to confirm it was indeed the senator who was in custody, saying only that a man was arrested at the Gatineau address after a call to 911.

“There’s no charge right now at the moment, but we will continue our investigation,” said Gatineau police spokesman Pierre Lanthier.

Lanthier would not comment on the condition of the victim.

Calls for Brazeau’s removal from the Senate began almost from the day he was appointed by Harper in 2008.

He was 34 when called to the red chamber, making him the third-youngest appointee in its history. Critics howled over his access to a salary of about $132,000 a year and a generous pension plan.

Brazeau joined the Senate while he was still national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.

He eventually resigned from CAP in January 2009 after news broke that a CAP employee had filed a sexual harassment complaint against him with Ontario’s human rights tribunal.

He was also linked to allegations of CAP misspending of federal funds that were supposed to pay for aboriginal health programs. Conservatives argued, at the time, that the misspending happened before Brazeau took over as congress chief.

A member of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation in Quebec, Brazeau was viewed by some as doing more harm than good to the state of federal-aboriginal relations from his position as a senator.

He has long been an outspoken advocate for greater transparency on reserves and reform of First Nations governance, often using Twitter — his handle is @TheBrazman — to describe his controversial and divisive perspective.

Brazeau was highly critical of Theresa Spence, the northern Ontario First Nations chief who began a six-week hunger protest late last year to demand new negotiations between aboriginal leaders and the federal government.

Brazeau was also dismissive of the wave of First Nations protests that spread through the country in January under the Idle No More banner. Members of his own band denounced his views.

Rather than acting responsibly, Senator Brazeau has been and continues to act in a rogue manner

Brazeau was also dismissive of the wave of First Nations protests that spread through the country in January under the Idle No More banner. Members of his own band denounced his views.

“The on-going and more recent ridicule that Senator Brazeau has made of Chief Teresa Spence, as well as the Idle No More Movement among other tirades has confirmed Senator Brazeau’s reformist views and total lack of understanding of the challenges facing First Nations,” Chief Gilbert W. Whiteduck said in a news release earlier this week.

“Rather than acting responsibly, Senator Brazeau has been and continues to act in a rogue manner.”

Over the years, reports have surfaced repeatedly of Brazeau being in arrears on child support payments.

He made the biggest headlines last March when he fought a charity boxing match against Liberal MP Justin Trudeau, now front-runner for the federal Liberal leadership.

Although bigger, heavier and allegedly more experienced in boxing than Trudeau, Brazeau — a former member of the Canadian Forces and a black belt in karate — lost the match.

Ralph Goodale, the Liberal deputy leader, described the most recent developments as “profoundly troubling.”

“There would appear to be some very real human issues at play here,” said Goodale, who also expressed the hope that no one had been injured.

Asked about kicking Brazeau from the Conservative caucus, even before charges were laid, Goodale immediately responded: “They had no choice.”

“Obviously his remaining in the caucus at that point was untenable.”

“Judged from the perspective we have, it seems to be an appropriate response. The question is, where to go from here.”

Files from Jordan Press and Michael Woods, Postmedia News and Stephanie Levitz, The Canadian Press